I wasn't particularly thinking this way at the time, but yesterday's late afternoon sketch is perfect for Thanksgiving. Not just because of the colors and the light and the gratitude for the beauty that I felt while doing it, but also because of this place. One thing that I am continually grateful for as an artist is the deep sense of place that spending a lifetime drinking in landscapes gives me. This place, this forest, makes me happy every day. I am unbelievably lucky to live four blocks from a forest, right in the heart of Memphis. It is an endless font of beauty, a refuge, a place to savor each day. A landscape painter could not ask for more.